Evangelos Marinakis responds to Nottingham Forest anger with ‘bulls**t’ reproach

Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of Nottingham Forest, has shared his opinion on the controversy that followed last month’s loss to Everton.

Evangelos Marinakis has no remorse about Nottingham Forest’s social media message criticizing Stuart Attwell’s appointment as VAR in the club’s defeat to Everton.

Forest, which is in the heart of the relegation race, released a forceful statement soon after the final whistle at Goodison Park. It read: “Three incredibly terrible decisions, three penalties not imposed, which we simply cannot accept.

“We informed the PGMOL before the game that the VAR is a Luton fan, but they did not change him. Our patience has been challenged several times. “NFFC will now consider its options.”

It was followed by support from Nuno Espirito Santo and other club officials, which resulted in formal Premier League and FA investigations, as well as plenty of chastising from the media. “Like a fan in the pub,” Jamie Carragher joked, while Gary Neville compared it to what a “mafia gang” would do.

“Who created this storm?” Marinakis asks in a detailed interview with the Mail Online. “Regrets? None at all. But for people to make all these remarks and all this nonsense…”

Forest’s owner believes the outrage is overblown, and after initiating the line of questioning himself, he explained: “The truth is that this individual referee is widely known to be a Luton supporter – and has no doubt disclosed his interest to PGMOL, as they all must.

“In my opinion, the PGMOL should not have chosen him for this match.” Luton was directly below Forest at the time. In the final relegation spot, eighteenth place. The encounter versus Everton was crucial to the club’s survival in the Premier League.

“The PGMOL should not have risked even the suspicion or perception of any bias, even unconscious bias. To be clear, we don’t expect to dictate or to impose a change to the PGMOL or Premier League but it is our duty to warn of a situation and be proactive. If this is crime…”

Finally, PGMOL chief Howard Webb studied the game and officially conceded that only the third of the three controversial penalty decisions, Ashley Young challenging Callum Hudson-Odoi, should have resulted in a different outcome.

“There were three undisputed penalties – not one,” the Greek businessman claims. “We have the analysis from trusted experts to prove it.”